We sat on the bench by the gate and asked seven of our families one question: what does this school actually do for your child? Here, mostly unedited, is what they said.
“Ms. Botha emails me every Friday with one small win Lerato had that week — the time she helped a Grade 1 boy tie his shoelace, the time she finished her sums first. I work the night shift in Mahikeng so I cannot always come to meetings. That email keeps me in my daughter’s school.”
Mrs. Dineo Mokoena
Parent of Lerato, Grade 3
“The principal phoned me herself when Sipho started getting into fights. Not a letter — a phone call. We sat down on a Saturday morning, Sipho was there too. By the end of the year he was running the Grade 4 chess club.”
Mr. Thabo Khumalo
Father of Sipho, Grade 5
“I am raising my granddaughter alone. The school remembers that. They send the school assistant to my house when there is paperwork I cannot do. Boitumelo had her first hot lunch here and never went hungry again.”
Gogo Maria Mahlangu
Grandmother of Boitumelo, Grade 2
“Charmaine struggled with reading until Grade 3. Mr. Phiri started a small Saturday-morning reading group for four learners, free, in the library. By the end of that year my child finished her first chapter book on her own.”
Ms. Charmaine September
Mother of Chad, Grade 4
“What I love is the Friday WhatsApp from Naledi’s teacher. A photo of one thing they did in class. Sometimes it’s nothing, just a sum on a board. I keep them all. Three years of small Fridays.”
Mr. Lwazi Ndlovu
Father of Naledi, Grade 1
“I sit on the SGB. The thing I tell other parents is — this school listens. We had a problem with the Lichtenburg-route bus arriving late. Three weeks of meetings, and now there’s a parent volunteer who waits with the children at the stop.”
Mrs. Palesa Sithole
Parent of Lebo, Grade 6 · SGB member
“Our farm is fifteen kilometres out. I was nervous about sending Pieter to a township school. He has now been here for four years and he greets the gogos in Setswana before he greets me. That is the kind of South Africa I wanted for him.”
Mr. Pieter van Niekerk
Father of Pieter Jnr, Grade 5
The best education is co-created by school and family. We try, every week, to behave as though we believe that.
A no-fee school does not have a fancy parents’ portal. We have a notebook, a WhatsApp group, two open days a year, and a school assistant who knows the dust roads.
Twice a term per class, plus individual sit-downs whenever a parent or teacher requests one. We hold one meeting on a Saturday morning each year for parents who do shift work.
Two open days each year — one in May, one in October. Visit a real classroom on a real day. The Grade 5 leaders run the tours. Tea, vetkoek, and an honest hour with our teachers.
A rotating roster of parents and grandparents read in the library, help in the garden, ride the scholar transport buses, and keep our small library tidy. Twenty volunteers in 2024.
Our SGB — eleven elected members — meets monthly. Six are parents, three are educators, two are co-opted community elders. Section 21 status means we manage our own funds, with parent oversight.
A simple parent WhatsApp group per class. Daily one-line news from the teacher. Bus delays, homework reminders, the next school holiday. No app to install, no data plan needed beyond the basic one.
A reading marathon on a Saturday in September. A father-and-child football tournament in March. A heritage cooking afternoon with the gogos. Quiet, free, and ours.